The True American Show

A nice movie depicting a long-running TV series starring True American as himself; written and conceived by the CFR.

True American is an everyman, living in what appears to be paradise. Here, surrounded by eternally smiling neighbours, the news is always good (except when it comes from any part of the world that isn't America). He and his neighbours' sunny reactions to news of the various American armed interventions around the world is secured by their knowledge that everything is as it should be; for they have liberal, democratic values.

"The Iraqis don't mind the constant drone attacks--they know we have their best interests at heart!"

"They only hate us for our freedoms!"

He is constantly reassured that he is living in the finest place on earth.

The rest of the world is a real hellhole!

Unknown to True American, however, his entire world is a fabrication, in a man-made bubble, sealed off from the chaos of the real world. The masterful choreographer of his world is a mysterious man (Rupert) who manages True American's perception of the world--but from time to time, little portions of the truth manage to slip past our hero's formidable defenses.

Here falling interest rates (just before they hit zero) are not accompanied by lower unemployment.

"You've got to listen to me! This isn't the real world! The rest of the world views American foreign policy as naked aggression! They don't hate us for our freedoms--they hate us for what we've done to them!" -- "Okay, let's have falafel instead of pizza then!"

True American is flabbergasted by these tiny glimpses of the truth--but each time, Rupert (through various surrogates) is able to calm him down with a reasonable explanation.

"Well, of course unemployment didn't fall. The economy in the rest of the world is too weak! If not for the European sovereign debt crisis (see newspaper headline) our economic models would work perfectly!"

His best friend is always ready to drop by with a six-pack of beer and reassurances.

Friends don't let friends think and drive.

Foreign policy issues are always carefully framed to include insignificant differences to create the illusion of meaningful debate.

"We should continue with our policy of sanctions on Iran, and only resort to bombing if they continue in their intrasigence." -- "I respectfully disagree. We should bomb them immediately, and if they continue resisting world opinion, follow up with continued sanctions."

Eventually the truth crashes through True American's defences.

Fox News assured me that nuclear power was safe!

Stumbling on another bit of the truth.

This time the hurried cover-up is to no avail.

Confronting the truth is painful.

But Rupert's control of reality is too strong. Facing the truth is painful--very much so. Far easier to avoid the truth. Especially when the Superbowl (or the Kardashians) is on TV.

"You'd feel better if you'd just kick back and watch the game with me. Have another beer!"

Viewers of the show can call in and talk to Rupert about the show. A common question is why True American is unable to see beyond Rupert's illusions.

"We accept the world as it is presented to us. If True American really wished to discover the truth, I would be unable to prevent him from doing so. But he is much happier in my artificial world than he would be in the real world. Since there are so many painful consequences to seeking the truth, he quite rightly prefers to live in my artificial world."

And so, True American is never able to escape his prison. (What, you thought he did? You must be thinking of another movie).

"Most propaganda is not designed to fool the critical thinker, but only to give moral cowards an excuse not to think at all." - Michael Rivero

"Think of the press as a great keyboard on which the government can play." - Joseph Goebbels - Nazi Minister of Propoganda

"The lie can be maintained only for such time as the state can shield the people from the political, economic and military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the state to use all of it's powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth becomes the greatest enemy of the state." - Joseph Goebbles - Nazi Minister of Propoganda

"Until they become conscious, they will never rebel and until after they have rebelled, they cannot become conscious." - George Orwell

"There are three classes of people: those who see, those who see when shown and those who don’t see." - Leonardo da Vinci

they are waiting for romney to save them from obama... they haven't figured out that its just a tag team match... dem/repubs on one side, the american people on the other... the two wings of the party switch off to give the illusion of hope...

Who knew that MDB had a cousin on here. ZHers understand the game is being played by all sides. You and your crew will sit and say that Corporations should not be able have a voice in politics but then will ignore the fact that the Public Sector labor unions are some of the biggest corporations of all. I am always amused by MDB's posts and now I have his cousin's post to look forward to.

It's nice to know we have something in common. I, too, appreciate the posts form MDB, and I am flattered that you think feel we are related. I also appreciate you clueing me in about what ZHers understand, with all 20 weeks of your vast experience here ;-)

Alas, I don't have a crew. As a fiscal conservative and social liberal, I have no political home. I do, however, fear for America, regardless of which side wins the coin toss, and see plenty of hypocracy in every direction. As to my view on corporations and unions, I would lke to see both removed from the poitical process. My view of the ideal situation would be simple....only registered voters could make campaign contributions - of any kind. No corp money, no union money, no foreign money, no special interests whatsoever.....just voters, with instant posting to the Internet of the amounts. I do not believe corporations are people, and neither are unions. I don't believe money is speech, either. Money drowns out speech, big business puts small business out of business, big banks make debt slaves of us all, and and multi-national corporations are only interested in profits, while perfectly willing to throw the country under the bus chasing them.

Advertising is effective, and propaganda is advertising. From my personal perspective, the kind of swill coming from talk radio is dangerous and designed to keep us divided. It is a forum for tossing red meat to the angry underbelly of white America who understands they are slipping further and further behind, but do not quite get it when it comes to why it's happening. Hint...it's not because the black guy or Mexican got a promotion and you din't. It's not because your health care plan may have to protect women's reproductive rights. No, it's about shipping our jobs off shore for profit while keeping you distracted. It's about starting unwinnable, perpetual wars on terrorism, or drugs, or crime. It's about whipping you up against the left, while the right picks your pocket.

You sound like a moderate libertarian. No need to be ashamed of it. Any American who EARNS their wage, lives WITHIN their means, and wants to be left the hell alone by the Government, yet can draw a common sense line in the sand from Anarchist estremism, masquerading as the love of negative liberties.

So true - I often wonder what some people who have dreamed of coming to America think - once they get here. Imagine working your ass off, selling everything you own to go live the dream - and then landing in this shit hole. The first thing you see is some fat fuck, with body piercing and tats all over, buying their beer and cigarettes with food stamps. Then you go home to turn on the news and find that the most pressing issues we want to deal with is whether marijuana should be legalized and same sex marriage should become the law of the land. Bunch of nasty mongrels romping around bitching because they aren't getting enough free stuff.

“It is recognized that in the execution of Psychological Warfare it is a fundamental principle not to antagonize the audience.Direct denunciation or direct offence against known susceptibilities will therefore be avoided in all Psychological Warfare.” - Daniel Lerner

“Mental confusion, indecision, panic, these are the first weapons.When the enemy is thoroughly demoralized from within, when social unrest is rife, that is the right moment.A single blow will suffice” - Adolf Hitler, referring to the military advantage that could be gained by controlling enemy opinion through propaganda

“All democratic propagandists can hope for is to persuade people that for the duration of the war it is best not to exercise their inalienable rights – the right to grumble, to reject conscription, to be pacifists or conscientious objectors… the right to grow flowers instead of potatoes…" - Anthony Richard Ewart Rhodes on Allied WWII propaganda

If you get a handle on Skinner and understand how people can be manipulated, then spend a little time with Konrad Lorenz and learn a little about the aggressive nature of man, you can't help but develop a wary skepticism about anyone in power.

If you do, you will get a slightly different "Austrian perspective" than generally discussed here.

He can get a little dense, but the work most relevant to the discussion is pretty readable -- "On Aggression", published in the '60's, was of great interest to me, an Army Brat son of an Artillery Sergeant Major, as I contemplated my personal military experiences during that period.

"The masses" really aren't fooled. They just lack the resources to do much about their situation, so they don't CARE.

The folks who are actually deceived are the college-educated "affluent" types who still hold jobs. They have been unaffected by the massive changes which have occurred over the past decade or so, and as a result, it's easy to continue to believe that "the system" is operating properly.

Actually, if you are in the top percentiles of income, you may even be better off. Certain things have become more affordable, the malls and restuarants are not as crowded, and if you are flush with cash, that little inflation thing is not much of an issue......party on!

"In George Orwell’s 1984 the Outer Party comprised a mere thirteen percent of the population and was subject to the ideological filters in play at the Ministry of Truth and the broader bureaucratic structure. A specific language and way of thinking were closely adhered to. Given their political import, Outer Party members were the most heavily indoctrinated and controlled inhabitants of Oceania. The majority Proles who constituted the remainder of the population was of little consequence so long as their political awareness remained underdeveloped."

So, if a face appears on the TV or has an influential blog, he/she is a member of the Outer Party whose object is to insure that the Proles' political awareness remains underdeveloped. Okay, I see it now.

Experience has prevent that the simplest method of securing a silent weapon and gaining control of the public is to keep the public undisciplined and ignorant of the basic system principles on the one hand, while keeping them confused, disorganized, and distracted with matters of no real importance on the other hand.

This is achieved by:

odisengaging their minds; sabotaging their mental activities; providing a low-quality program of public education in mathematics, logic, systems design and economics; and discouraging technical creativity.

oengaging their emotions, increasing their self-indulgence and their indulgence in emotional and physical activities, by:

?unrelenting emotional affrontations and attacks (mental and emotional rape) by way of constant barrage of sex, violence, and wars in the media - especially the T.V. and the newspapers.

?giving them what they desire - in excess - "junk food for thought" - and depriving them of what they really need.

orewriting history and law and subjecting the public to the deviant creation, thus being able to shift their thinking from personal needs to highly fabricated outside priorities.

These preclude their interest in and discovery of the silent weapons of social automation technology.The general rule is that there is a profit in confusion; the more confusion, the more profit. Therefore, the best approach is to create problems and then offer solutions.

Diversion Summary

Media: Keep the adult public attention diverted away from the real social issues, and captivated by matters of no real importance.

Schools: Keep the young public ignorant of real mathematics, real economics, real law, and real history.

Entertainment: Keep the public entertainment below a sixth-grade level.

Work: Keep the public busy, busy, busy, with no time to think; back on the farm with the other animals.

Prime example.... more people know that snooki had her baby than know about the crimes being committed at the RNC this week. Nevermind that a group of men are ensuring that big money will rule elections 100% (opposed to 95% now) because a stupid whore had a baby.... we will get what they deserve.

"I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies . . . If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around [the banks] . . . will deprive the people of all property until their children wake-up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered . . . The issuing power should be taken from the banks and restored to the people, to whom it properly belongs." -- Thomas Jefferson -- The Debate Over The Recharter Of The Bank Bill, (1809)

"The art of propaganda lies in understanding the emotional ideas of the great masses and finding, through a psychologically correct form, the way to the attention and thence to the heart of the broad masses. The fact that our bright boys do not understand this merely shows how mentally lazy and conceited they are."

"The function of propaganda is, for example, not to weigh and ponder the rights of different people, but exclusively to emphasize the one right which it has set out to argue for. Its task is not to make an objective study of the truth, in so far as it favors the enemy, and then set it before the masses with academic fairness; its task is to serve our own right, always and unflinchingly."

"The broad mass of a nation does not consist of diplomats, or even professors of political law, or even individuals capable of forming a raitonal opinion; it consists of plain mortals, wavering and inclined to doubt and uncertainty. As soon as our own propaganda admits so much as a glimmer of right on the other side, the foundation for doubt in our own right has been laid."

"The people in their overwhelming majority are so feminine by nature and attitude that sober reasoning determines their thoughts and actions far less than emotion and feeling."

I love you beer snobs. Pilsner beer, invented by the Chechs, is the most difficult beer in the world to make. Shit like stouts and ales, etc.... a monkey can make those. Now, Bud, is a pilsner...and a pretty good one. The fact that Bud can be produced in the massive quantiteis it is at the consistant quality it is.......... is an absolute freaking miracle.

so didn't some Germanic total quality brewer with only taste and pride -never thinking of profit just buy Bud?? this buds for u-- hey the euro snobs have no propaganda over there --none at all -- they are pure ----they hear the higher calling--- they are rightious--etc -and on and on --